Hyderabad: Secretary of Telangana State Legislative Assembly, Dr. S. Sadaram told that all the arrangements for polling in connection with presidential elections have been made in consultation with the Dept. of Police and other departments. On the polling day, unconcerned persons will not be allowed to enter the Assembly premises.
As per rules, those who reach the polling station for voting in presidential election are eligible to get TA and DA whereas this facility is not available for participating in General Elections or the elections of local bodies.
Parliament session starts on 17th July. All MPs get Rs. 2000 per day and they are also provided air tickets for attending the parliament and also on the last day but since polling for Presidential election is scheduled on 17th July which is also the starting of Parliament session, there won’t be any additional expenditure on the payment of TA and DA. The MPs cast their votes at the Parliament Secretariat.
However, the governments of Telangana and A.P. have to spend money to pay TA and DA for 119 MLAs in Telangana and 174 MLAs in A.P. since Assembly sessions have not been convened on that day. Each MLA of Telangana will get Rs. 800 as daily allowance and Rs. 20 per km for traveling allowance. As per the existing rules, if the MLA attends Assembly even for a day, he has to be paid DA for three days. It is expected that Govt. of Telangana might spend Rs. 80 lakh for the payment of TA and DA to its MLAs whereas the expenditure for A.P. State would be around Re. 1.5 crore. The MLAs coming from Vishakhapatnam, Tirupati, Rajahmandary and Kadapa will have to be paid airfare.
In Telangana, TRS, TDP and BJP have declared their support to NDA candidates whereas Congress and CPM are supporting Ms. Meira Kumar. MIM has not yet declared its stand. On the contrary, in AP ruling TDP and opposition YSRCP have declared their supports to Mr. Ram Nath Kovind.
–Siasat News